How did your MP vote on conscience issues?

• Information about conscience votes
• EMILY's List
• Surrogacy and Cloning - Legislative Assembly
• Surrogacy and Cloning - Legislative Council
• Prostitution

Information about Conscience Votes

During the last Parliament, there have been conscience votes on surrogacy and cloning human embryos for destructive research. Both of these questions revolved around the sanctity and value of human life.

Conscience votes are not a comprehensive measure of a politician's values. They are usually only held on sensitive questions of life, and do not apply to other important value matters where politicians usually follow their party's line. Nonetheless, conscience votes do show how a politician approaches a significant ethical question, where their sense of values comes from, and what their personal view is on what we believe to be one of the most important questions of all: the protection of human life from conception to natural death.

EMILY's List

EMILY's List is a political network formed to increase the number of women Labor parliamentarians who are willing to support key feminist issues, including abortion. It provides financial, political and personal support to Labor women candidates who agree to support the values of EMILY's List. It is the only network of its kind in Australian politics.
EMILY's List members and candidates must support the principles of equity, diversity, pro-choice, and the provision of equal pay and childcare, both in the community and in Parliament. Many of these are signficant issues but it is concerning that membership of such a network dictates a parliamentarian's vote. For example, EMILY's List members consistently support pro-abortion policies, reflecting both their personal beliefs and their membership of the List. Without exception, every Federal ALP parliamentarian named on EMILY's List voted to support the abortion drug RU486 and to permit the cloning of human embryos for destructive research.
Not all female Labor MPs or Senators are EMILY's List members. Some prominent ALP members such as NSW Senator Ursula Stephens and Tasmanian Senator Helen Polley support pro-life policies. However, if you want to support candidates who recognise the value of human life from its earliest stages then you need to know if your current representative or local candidate is a member of EMILY's List because List membership will determine her vote on these issues. Click here to find out.

Surrogacy and Cloning - How did your MP vote?

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Prostitution - How did your local MP vote?

Large numbers of West Australians voiced concern about the Prostitution Bill earlier this year. This controversial legislation passed by just one vote after independent Legislative Council Member Shelly Archer supported it at the last minute. Labor Members of Parliament voted on party lines, meaning all their members supported the bill. The Liberal Party took a united stand against it. Below is a list of how independents and minor parties voted.

Legislative Assembly - Minor Parties & Independents

Legislative Council - Minor Parties & Independents